Almost everything sold in a cosmetics shop in Accra was bought wholesale a few streets from Makola, and the price triples on the way. If you know where the wholesale trade is, you buy the same product for much less.
Where to buy
Okaishie, in Accra Central, is the wholesale centre for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and toiletries - the street the retail shops themselves buy from. Cheapest in quantity, and busy in a way that rewards knowing what you came for.
Makola and the central markets sell soaps, creams, hair products, shea butter, black soap and the whole local trade in skincare, usually by the seller rather than the brand.
Pharmacies are dearer and are the right place for anything medicated, anything for a child, and anything you want to be certain about.
Supermarkets and Melcom carry the international brands at fixed prices, with the confidence that comes from a receipt.
Online sellers and social media shops cover everything, at every level of honesty. Pay on delivery where you can.
Counterfeits are the real problem in this category
Cosmetics are among the most widely counterfeited goods sold in Accra, and a fake cream is not a fake handbag - it goes on skin.
- Check the FDA registration. Cosmetics sold in Ghana are meant to be registered with the Food and Drugs Authority, and the Authority publishes what is registered and issues recalls. A product with no registration details on the packaging is a reason to walk away.
- Look at the packaging carefully: spelling, print quality, a batch number and an expiry date that are printed rather than stuck on, and a seal that is intact.
- Be suspicious of a price far below everyone else’s on a known brand.
- Buy anything medicated from a pharmacy, not from a stall.
— Ghana’s regulators, and who to complain to
Skin-lightening products
The Food and Drugs Authority banned the import of cosmetics containing hydroquinone in 2016, and it continues to seize skin-lightening products found on the market. They are still sold, often unlabelled or mislabelled, sometimes mixed into an ordinary-looking cream by the seller.
They damage skin permanently, and the strongest of them are dangerous well beyond skin. If a cream promises to lighten, “tone” or “glow up” in days, that is what is in it. Read the ingredients, and buy from somewhere that has something to lose.
What is cheap here and dear everywhere else
Ghana produces several things that cost a fortune abroad and very little in a market here:
- Shea butter, raw and unrefined, sold by weight.
- Black soap, made locally, sold in a lump rather than a bar.
- Coconut and palm kernel oil, from the market.
Bought unbranded and by weight, these are a fraction of the price of the same ingredients in a jar with a label on it.
Hair
Hair products, extensions, wigs and braiding hair are a large trade with their own centres - the markets, and whole shopping arcades in Accra Central. Prices are negotiable and vary enormously with quality.
— Hair and barbers in Accra — Where to shop in Accra — Accra’s markets